Satellite broadcast signals of various types are broadcast from satellites orbiting the Earth. Many broadcast satellites, such as television broadcast satellites, are located in geostationary orbital slots, so they are always in the same place with respect to the earth.
Finding and locking onto a given broadcast satellite signal is not an easy task since there are many sources of radio frequency energy in the sky. Indeed, for television there are two different, and incompatible, satellite television service providers in the United States. The difficulty of finding and locking onto broadcast satellites is further complicated by the fact that various broadcasters often spread portions of their available programming across many separate satellites located at physically different locations (referred to as orbital slots) in the sky.
A given broadcast satellite also has a finite broadcast bandwidth. Therefore, it is necessary for satellite broadcasters, for example DISH Network and DirecTV for satellite television broadcasts, to spread their programming across more than one satellite located at different orbital slots. Thus, for a customer to receive their full compliment of programming, their satellite antenna equipment would need to aim and lock on to broadcast satellites located two or more different orbital slots (e.g., 110 degrees and 119 degrees, etc.) depending on what channel the user has chosen via their television set top box. With the adoption of high definition (HD) programming, etc., the proliferation of distinct satellite orbital slots has become commonplace.
Satellite broadcast signals are received with an antenna. The antennas can come in many styles and variations, including portable, mobile, fixed, enclosed and non-enclosed. However, most types of conventional satellite broadcast reception antennas include a reflector dish and a signal converter (e.g. low noise block downconverter (LNB)). The incoming signals broadcast by the satellite are collected by the reflector dish and focused or concentrated into the inlet of the LNB. In order to receive adequate signal strength, such as to produce a viewable picture on the user's television, these antennas have to be pointed directly at the broadcast satellite position.
Because of the pointing requirements, the setup of a satellite reception system is relatively complex as compared to terrestrial broadcast signals. Typically, the user has to have proper training and tools, or a professional installer is necessary, to mount the antenna to a user's house, building or other sturdy structure, and then carefully aim the antenna at the target satellite positions.
The aiming process is further complicated when attempting to receive modern high definition television programming since the user most often receives broadcast signals from multiple different satellite orbital slots in order to receive the user's full compliment of programming. Thus, the elevation, azimuth and skew of the antenna must be in correct alignment for the user to receive their subscribed programming. If the antenna is disturbed or moved, then it may have to be re-aimed, typically by a technician.
Thus, it can be easily appreciated that the installation and maintenance process for satellite antennas is costly to the user and/or the service provider due to the costs of training and maintaining many technicians to service customer needs.
One solution to make satellite antenna aiming easier is to provide the antenna with electronic motors and control systems to automate antenna movements. However, the conventional automated antenna systems need a way to identify the specific orbital slot to which it is pointed. Thus, either a person has to manually actuate the aiming motors, or the fully automated system has to include electronics to decode satellite identification if such data is encoded within the broadcast data stream. By decoding the satellite identification in the data stream, the fully automated antenna can make a positive identification of each satellite orbital slot it might aim at after a searching operation. For example, this identification data is encoded in satellite television broadcasts according to the so-called Digital Video Broadcast-Satellite (DVB-S) data standard, which can be decoded by DVB-S decoding circuitry included within the satellite television antenna electronics. However, this solution necessarily adds complexity, potential for obsolescence and cost to the antenna device.
Another solution that avoids the need to include decoding circuitry, such as DVB, in the antenna electronics is to use an antenna system configured to communicate with an external control box or decoder box (e.g. a television set top box (STB) that is connected to the user's television) in order to obtain the satellite identification data from the external control box. Such a method, system and antenna are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,789,116, which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. However, this device, system and method have the drawback of the need to have a two-way exchange of data with the STB. Thus, the antenna must be configured to follow the communication protocols dictated by the STB supplier and/or service providers for the user's particular satellite television service. Not all control devices are enabled or configured to perform this type of communication, and the communication protocols are different and incompatible for each of the different service providers and types of broadcasts. Additionally, communications protocols and/or identifications schemes are subject to change at any time, thereby necessitating a software update to the antenna, or worse, rendering the antenna unusable.
Therefore there remains a need to provide an improved satellite broadcast reception antenna, system and satellite antenna aiming method that allows the desired satellite orbital slots to be locked onto and identified without the need for decoding of satellite identification data by either onboard electronics or by electronics within an external control box.